I Didn’t Know I Could Do That

A couple of weeks ago, I was working with a group of elementary students in a gym. At one point, I had them skipping backwards down the entire length of the floor. It felt a little silly, a little awkward, and just challenging enough to require their full attention.

When they finished, one of the kids looked up at me, genuinely surprised, and said, “I didn’t know I could do that.”

It stopped me in my tracks. "I didn't know I could do that."

Not because skipping backwards is particularly impressive, but because of how familiar that sentence becomes later in life...just usually after something big.

After saving more money than you thought you could. After losing weight or getting stronger. After leaving a job that drained you. After finding love when you had quietly started to believe it wasn’t in the cards for you.

“I didn’t know I could do that” often shows up after the thing is done, not before.

What struck me in that gym was how early we stop giving ourselves chances to be surprised by our own capacity. As adults, we tend to decide what we can and can’t do based on past versions of ourselves. We assume our limits are fixed. We stop experimenting in low-stakes ways.

This is especially true when it comes to rest and pacing. Most people don’t think, “I didn’t know I could take 12 minutes and pause between meetings.” Or, “I didn’t know I could step away for a moment and still be effective.”

Those options never even register as possibilities. And that is the point here.

And yet, when people finally do pause; when they protect a lunch break, take a walk, breathe before responding, leave work on time...the reaction is often the same quiet surprise.

“I didn’t know I could do that.”

The truth is, many of the things we’re most proud of weren’t unlocked by pushing harder. They were unlocked by trying something unfamiliar. By allowing ourselves to test a new behavior without knowing how it would turn out.

That’s true whether you’re building financial stability, changing your health, creating space for love, or learning how to rest without guilt. The breakthrough moment usually isn’t dramatic. It’s a realization. A widening. A sense that the world is bigger than you thought. What if you tried this at work, also? Your team tries something new and unexpected or thinks outside the box and accomplishes something great "accidentally". Try this at work with your team and celebrate once you've done something that you didn't know you could do.

So maybe this week isn’t about setting another goal or fixing something that isn’t broken. Maybe it’s about trying one small thing you’ve never considered — not because you have to, but because you’re curious what might be possible.

Pause here. Let yourself remember a time you surprised yourself.

Then proceed...knowing there may be more available to you than you realize.